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yakyu otaku - T.J. Smith

The Disclaimer: The following weblog is personal and possibly fictional, the views expressed herein are not necessarily the view of anyone except my own.

The Man: Hyperenergetic, strange, small and confused. I'm an American who was born in Canada to a half-Jew, half-German lawyer from Cowtown AB and a Swiss-Irish farmgirl from Wisconsin. I was once described to myself as a black man who's trapped in a small white man's body but thinks he's asian. To date, I have written one novel, but have yet to publish.

The Story: A lone mercenary wordsmith who's ironically become fed up with the English language decides to search for answers in a country where no one will understand my questions.

**News 5-24-09: Published at last!! "Meeting Her Daddy--Part 2" is now published in volume 8 of the McGill University East Asian Studies journal "Orientations" under the conspicuous title of "Travelogue". Check it out at an EAS department near you!

Japan Summer 2006
June 3rd 2006 -» August 11th 2006 The Yuki Saga
April 24th 2007 -» September 2nd 2007 Spring League 2008
February 13th 2008 -» June 4th 2008 The Summer of Lame
June 6th 2008 -» August 5th 2009 France, Apparently
November 14th 2009 -» ongoing

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Joined on: June 3rd 2006
Last Login: November 24th 2009

Blog Entries: 128
Photos: 686
Recommended by 2, Recommends 1

TB Code: [blogger=18123]
Status: BLOGGER

Blogs & Travel Journals

by yakyu otaku, order by Date newest first.

By yakyu otaku
November 19th 2009

Europe Blows. North America » United States » Montana » Big Sky

St. Joseph's Oratory
in Montreal

So anyways, there I was drinking cappuccinos on my couch in Montana one August morning when Mai signs in on web messenger and says “hey, let’s go to France!” and that seemed like a good idea to me because I had f**k all to do for the next five months or so, ‘cept maybe find a job and take a night class or something. I was at last starting to feel the often spoken of but seldom understood “comfortable numbness”, but the very though of relaxing at a time like this irked me. Looking around me I thought, that this must [View Full Entry]

By yakyu otaku
November 14th 2009

Prologue: So What Ever Happened to All That? North America » United States » Montana » Big Sky

King of Nampa
Ted tries his skills and his luck at one of Gen's notorious house parties

A little shy of year later I was sitting in Montana, drinking cappuccinos, fighting off a nagging cough, looking at English-teaching schools and lamenting my lack of a ‘next move’. Graduate school didn’t work out so well for me, thanks in part that positively apocalyptic global recession that our children’s history textbooks are clearly going to read as the most trying ordeal anyone has ever gone through. The same had eliminated most of the positions I’d considered occupying myself with during my upcoming obligatory white-people gap year, including my usual post [View Full Entry]

By yakyu otaku
August 5th 2009

One Last Goodbye? Asia » Japan » Tokyo

'I want you to find a girl that's better than me.' She said to me as we were walking down to the train station. It was about 8:30 am, the weather was hot and the sky was pale grey. She wouldn't look at me for most of the way. 'I'm sorry I was unable to love you all this time. It was wrong of me...to take your feelings for granted like that. I thought all along I was just a temporary plaything to you. Maybe you think the same of me now.' . . . 'I don't think any worse of [View Full Entry]

By yakyu otaku
August 4th 2009

ゆかた Asia » Japan » Chiba

Waiting at the Train Station
left

I was up the next morning early (July 20th, 2008) and on the train to Chiba. The Lions were at Chiba Marine Stadium for the last of a three game set on the coast and were closing in on a sweep. All that stood between them was the Chiba ace, Shunsukue Watanabe who, despite playing in a cellar team, was having one of the best seasons of his life and had been already selected to represent Japan in the (then) upcoming Beijing Olympics. It was an hour and a half ride to Kaihin Makuhari station. And a 20 minute walk from [View Full Entry]

By yakyu otaku
August 3rd 2009

衛星ーSatellites Asia » Japan » Tokyo

V'GER
Isaac Asimov saw the potential to excel in satellites

I rode that bus until I saw train-tracks. I had little idea as to where I was, only that heading back along the tracks would eventually bring me back to a station on the Seibu Kokubunji-line. The novelty of my jimbei and the extra confidence that it had brought me had worn off. It wad dark and it was quiet. I felt boxed in and alone between the privacy walls of the houses to my right and the chain link fence on the rail-bed on my left. There was no wind, and I could hear footsteps and whispers from more than [View Full Entry]

By yakyu otaku
August 1st 2009

会いたかった—I wanted to meet you. Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Kokubunji

Larry
Aside from the Hooter's bastard love child, an all-around stand up guy.

First off, I think I owe Larry Wayne "Chipper" Jones Jr. an apology. After arousing the sympathies of my ATL readership, I've come to realize my remarks were uncalled for. I think as usual, I just got emotional and Larry just got in the way. Todd's Right, What did Larry ever do to me? - -What has Larry ever done to anyone really? I was trying to remember why it was that I hated Chipper jones, and think it was a combination of too many names, that smarmy smile from his team team USA photo that I had to look at [View Full Entry]

By yakyu otaku
July 31st 2009

女心ーA Woman's Heart Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Kokubunji

Concrete

Curses and hellfire! It seems every time I try and enact my malicious scheme to pollute the glorious journalism of Travelblog.org with uninteresting and uninformative blogs specifically not about travel, some heroic pundit with a silver tongue for epithets places a UN-worthy injunction on my iniquity. If by yogurt-cock, you mean to say that my phallus is white and full of bacteria...that may well be sir, but all I have to say is if you're unsatisfied with the way I represent Tokyo, then perhaps instead of depending on the quality of press on this website, maybe you should...go to Japan your [View Full Entry]

By yakyu otaku
July 23rd 2009

ボケの寝癖マンーCowlick Man the Fool Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Kokubunji

Pity the Fool
Cowlick Man, seen here in semi-formal

I'm just like the Mariners aren't I? Every time I'm in a position to catch up or take the lead, I just drop one. Right in front of the fans. At least I'm getting hate-mail again. And rightly so. How embarrassing is that my last article was 2676 words about my stuff? Literally, the article is about nothing more than my stuff. How is it that I still manage to get over 600 unique hits last month- -2 years after my only runaway season, writing about the breakup I went through a last year? I guess if the Detroit Tigers can [View Full Entry]

By yakyu otaku
July 21st 2009

書庫ーArchive Asia » Japan » Tokyo

My Shelves

Predictably, when Hiro-chan phoned me at 8am the following morning, the combination of my hangover, and all the necessary shame that comes with being knocked out by a 50 year-old man, kept me in bed. I told him I would meet him at 11 at Hamamatsuchō station and slept uneasily for another hour. After reluctantly opening my eyes, I lay awake while the others were running around the park near the Emperor's Palace on this beautiful Saturday (July 19th, 2008) and started to reevaluate everything in my life at the present moment. Let's take a look at my goals for this [View Full Entry]

By yakyu otaku
July 16th 2009

Tom Cruise Found Beat Up in a Scummy Hinoshi Snack Bar? Asia » Japan » Tokyo

Tom Cruise
Seen here saving America (the world) from communism

Since the summer of 2006, David Beckham, Ethan Hawke, Kevin Bacon and even Derek Jeter are all men who have made frequent appearances drinking in the watering holes of sleepy little west Tokyo municipality of Hino-city- -in the form of me. By far the person whom I "look exactly like" the most though, according to white-people facial-indentification experts in the Hino-city bars of Yasuu, Sakura, Blue Midnights, Aoi, Pink, Uotami, Watami, Retro Cafe and the occasion counter sitter at Naka-Naka, is Tom Cruise. I was in Sakura, that scummy basement snack bar where oldhag and molenose work and [View Full Entry]

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